This year has really surpassed my expectations when it comes to the growth of my blog. For one, thank you for reading and coming back to check what I have to say every now and then. It means the world to me! In an effort to pay it forward, I’m sharing some of the tips, tricks, and mindsets that have helped me along this process of working with brands as a small blogger.

Check Your Motives

Why do you even want to work with brands in the first place? I won’t judge you if money and notoriety is your sole motive, but perhaps it should be more than that. Do you have a genuine passion for beauty and want to see more diversity in the beauty industry? Maybe you think you have some insight to offer to the world in a particular field that a brand has the resources to help you share. When you have a solid motivation, you’ll be content starting off with no brand collaborations. (Emphasis on starting off–we don’t do free labor forever.) If you’re goal truly was to help people or be a voice of inspiration, that alone will ground you and be enough even before the brand deals start rolling in.

Why do you even want to work with brands in the first place?

I really don’t think there is a wrong motive for brand collaborations–everyone is entitled to pursue whatever makes them happy. I will say that your motivation shows in your work ethic and the type of content you produce. If your motive isn’t solidified, you may be someone saying yes to every opportunity that comes your way. That is not only hard to keep up with, but also off putting for your audience.

Establish Yourself As An Expert On A Topic

Ah, yes, the good ole “find your niche” talk that almost every brand expert gives to their audience at some point. To be honest, the whole concept of a niche was overwhelming and daunting for me. I didn’t really believe I was doing something new when I started this blog. Did I carve out a niche? No, not really. What I can say is that I worked hard to establish myself as an expert on a topic. I don’t have any official titles or certifications when it comes to beauty and skin care, but I care about it enough to talk about it a lot. It’s what I talk about on my blog posts, YouTube channel, Instagram stories and highlights. I remember once some guy replied to me regarding my Instagram stories saying “you’re still talking about this makeup thing?” My response was “Yea, it’s my thing.”

I don’t have any official titles or certifications when it comes to beauty and skin care, but I care about it enough to talk about it a lot.

When you talk about “your thing” long enough, people start to associate that topic with you. Eventually I would get phone calls from friends standing in the middle of Sephora or Target seeking advice about what makeup to purchase or skin care brand to try out. I’m certainly not Jackie Aina—shout out to Auntie Jackie for teaching me everything I know—but to some of my audience I connect with, I am more accessible than her. Become the person that your friends, family, and followers want to go to when they have a question about your area of expertise. Essentially, you need to serve your audience first before you seek brands. Why is that so important? Because brands are looking to work with people that have built trust and respect with their own followers.

Create Consistently

It’s hard to establish yourself as an expert in an area when you aren’t creating content consistently. As always, figure out what works for you and your audience. Are you going to publish blog posts or YouTube videos once a week? Maybe you can only commit to every other week? Utilize monthly newsletters if you feel like that works better for you. Get creative. There are plenty of apps and features revolutionizing content creation. Consider a weekly question or poll on Instagram stories. Create hashtags or titles for them so that people can remember you. Every now and then I like to drop my “beauty favorites” on IG stories using an app called Unfold. If you’re needing new inspiration for content-creating apps, check out my previous post on that.

Tag, Tag, Tag

Use the brands you want to work with and then tag them when you use them. They will see your content. Think about it: there are people who are being paid to sit and go through the brand’s social media account and see what people are saying about their products on social media and how consumers are creating content with it. Tag them in your pictures, captions and even on your stories. They’ll like, comment, reply and potentially even repost if they like what they see. Even if they don’t, it never hurts to try.

Practice Patience & Stop Comparing Yourself To Others

Rome wasn’t built in a day and brand collabs won’t come in a day either. I often find myself getting caught in this rabbit hole of looking at others on social media and wishing I was in their position. Most of the time I get a reality check when I do my research and realize a lot of the bloggers I am admiring have been in the game for years, maybe almost a decade. Little old me only started this blog little less than a year ago! I’m a natural overachiever and perfectionist but it is just as important to acknowledge that these sort of things take time.

Final Thoughts

There are tons of other things you can do to put yourself out there. Get business cards. Create a media kit and send it out. Go to more networking events in your area to meet other bloggers and gain advice. As I said before, there’s not much you have to lose!

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin” Zechariah 4:10

#EniGivenSunday